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The poor things, nearly asleep, were covered head to toe with dirt As ive them more time, she didn’t dare “Up and at ’em”
They hauled thee toward theer cover would leave theirls
Up or down? The choice of which direction turned dire
She judged the distance to the trees above They’d never e below “This way,” she whispered, urging them toward the cliff They balked when she told theranite slabs “It looks scary But it’s easier than you think You put y
our hands and feet on one side and push your back against the other, using the pressure to hold yourself up Like Santa in a chimney”
Ae “I’ve done this before I’ll show them”
The younger woman lowered herself between the rocks and worked her way down, clearly experienced at cli Even so, she hesitated at the end of the fissure, perhaps gearing up for the several-foot drop to the ledge below The irls She was not surprised when Nasha volunteered first, intuitively finding toe- and footholds until she reached the end Ae After seeing how easily Nasha ed the climb down, the others quickly followed
Remi took one of the branches she’d torn froe and scattered leaves over the top to help disguise them even further She was about to cliht of a number of fist-sized rocks that had tuirls had rested against
She quickly arranged them into an arrow ai earlier, then handed her walking stick to one of the girls before lowering herself into the crevice And none too soon The voices on the trail grew louder
She dropped to the rocky ledge, grateful to find that the overhang, though not quite a cave—and definitely not tall enough to stand beneath—actually offered soirls beneath it, as far back as they could fit Above theuo
“That way,” one said “Before the rain starts”
“Pili,” another called out “Does that look like an arrow?”
Relanced up, shocked to see that one of thethe fissure He leaned forward She pressed back against the girls as he spit alht down at them
“Look at that,” he said “It looks like—”
“Listen,” Pili said “I think I hear that helicopter again Get to the trees Before they see us”